lead water

America’s water system is undeniably in crisis. The projected cost of fixing the miles of pipeline that criss-cross the country runs to $1 trillion, according to some estimates. There’s no quick fix.

Our infrastructure won’t be updated any time soon…

Next Generation – New Hope

But where there is a future, there is always hope. And where there is hope, there is a future. Maybe the next generation will come up with some answers, determined to put right what is broken and unsustainable. This possibility has been highlighted by eleven-year-old Gitanjali Rao, winner of America’s top young scientist award.

Mythical Inspiration

Horrified by the news of lead contamination in the water of Flint, Michigan, Gitanjali quickly realized the issue …

My grandmother, like so many of her generation, was big on preserves and finding ways of storing any surplus for leaner times. Part of the preserving process included canning, which meant that her pantry shelves were lined with dozens of bottles and jars containing everything from beans and artichokes, to jams and chicken.

The FDA can’t keep up with our online spending habits.

Taking Responsibility

Among this vision of bucolic bounty, I remember my grandmother sternly telling me about why it was so vital to bottle foods safely. The poisonous spores of botulism thrive where good canning practice isn’t followed, and that particular deadly toxin cannot be seen, smelled or tasted.

Take a look at our first picture. Would you drink water that looked like this? Bathe in it? Give it to your children? The people of St. Joseph, Louisiana have no choice. That’s the water that has flowed from their taps for years now. Incredibly, up until recently, it was declared safe. Despite the 1,100 residents of this small, relatively impoverished town complaining for almost a decade about the state of the water that leaves clothes and towels streaked with rust-colored stains, officials insisted that it was safe to drink.

Good to drink?

State of Emergency

Shortly before Christmas 2016, a state of Public Health Emergency was declared after elevated levels of lead and copper were found in samples, …

More charges have been brought against decision-makers involved in the Flint crisis, which saw lead-laced water flowing into the homes of unsuspecting residents. Accused of putting profits before public health, Jerry Ambrose and Darnell Earley were brought in as emergency managers of Flint and made the catastrophic decision to source the city’s drinking water from the Flint River, despite grave doubts about the readiness of the Flint Water Plant to safely treat the water.

Flint Charges: Who Will be Next?

The two men are charged with felonies of false pretenses and conspiracy after misleading the Michigan Department of Treasury to obtain millions in bonds, which were then misused to help to build a new pipeline, while the local river …

An astonishing 5,300 water systems in America have violated the EPA guidelines on lead and copper, putting 18 million Americans unknowingly at risk.

How Did it Get This Serious?

The creaking, aging infrastructure that supplies the water is a known problem. The cost of replacing it is too high, and so repairs are carried out piecemeal, when a localized problem becomes serious enough. To safeguard the millions of people drinking the water, tests must be carried out to check for unsafe levels of dangerous contaminants, and this is …